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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 01/18/2022CITY COUNCIL 18 JANUARY 2022 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Tuesday, 18 January 2022, at 6:30 p.m., in Room 301, 180 Market Street, and by Go to Meeting remote participation. MEMBERS PRESENT: H. Riehle, Chair; M. Emery, T. Barritt, Sen. T. Chittenden, M. Cota ALSO PRESENT: J. Baker, City Manager; A. Bolduc, Deputy City Manager; C. McNeil, City Attorney; D. Kinville, City Clerk; P. Conner, Director of Planning & Zoning; M. Machar, Finance Officer; M. Lyons, City Assessor; T. DiPietro, Acting Head of Public Works; Chief S. Burke, Police Department; G. Yandow, R. McDonald, A. MacIlwane. L. Kingsbury, B. Sirvis, B. Britt, Cindy, L. Bailey, P. Taylor, R. Hubbard, E. Krasnow, K. Ryder, Wayne, A. Strong, C. Frank, T. Getz, L. Marriott, J. Francis, R. Cate, Lori, P. Jerard, S. Dooley, Z. Davisson, M. Mittag, J. Bellevance, S. Lynn, L. Kupferman 1.Instructions on exiting building in case of emergency and review of technology option: Ms. Baker provided instructions on emergency exit from the building and reviewed technology options. 2.Additions, deletions or changes in the order of Agenda items: Ms. Baker asked to add a consideration and possible amendment to the Land Development Regulations, the first half of the discussion to take place in an executive session. This item was added as 11B. 3.Comments and questions from the public not related to the agenda: Mr. McDonald raised an issue of safety southbound on Hinesburg Road where the speed limit increases from 40 to 45. Turning out of the side roads is very dangerous, especially when a car may be passing another car. He suggested three possible ways to address this concern: a “no passing” sign, a rumble strip on the median, and/or reducing the speed to 40 mph. Mr. McDonald was also concerned with the deterioration of the rec paths, leading to safety concerns. He felt there should be a separate budget line item for maintenance of rec paths. Ms. Riehle noted the City did write to the State regarding lowering the speed limit on Hinesburg Road, and they responded that they could lower it 5 mph in one area. The City did not ask about a “no passing” sign. CITY COUNCIL 18 JANUARY 2022 PAGE 2 Mr. Cota noted that Bill #H126 in the State Legislature would allow municipalities to have greater control over speeds on roadways. Ms. Riehle suggested an agenda item on the next agenda for the City to support that Bill. 4.Announcements and City Manager’s Report: Ms. Riehle advised that she and Ms. Baker had met with the School Board leadership, and they are interested in engaging with the Climate Control committee. They are also interested in being part of the City Charter Committee proposal. Ms. Riehle noted the school budget is going up .6%. The School Board is also working on impact fees. The Council can anticipate an update at the 24 January Steering Committee meeting. They are talking about 3 phases to deal with schools that need updating: The first phase would have trailers at the elementary schools for administrative purposes which would free up classroom space. The second would focus on the High School, with a proposal in FY24-25. The final phase would address the Middle School. Ms. Riehle reported that she also attended the Climate Task Force meeting. They will be looking at the State Climate Action Plan to see what strategies are appropriate for municipalities. Ms. Baker: There were 357 new cases of COVID in the city last week, 100 more than the previous week. There is legislature on the Governor’s desk that would allow remote meetings. Kudos to the Public Works Department for working on a holiday to take care of snow removal. The Steering Committee will meet on 24 January in the Auditorium. The next Council meeting will be on 7 February. 5.Consent Agenda: a.Approve and Sign Disbursements b.Approve FY23 Unified Planning Work Program Project application c.Approve Transportation Impact Fee Credit Request for 1068 Williston Road (Hampton/Holiday Inn site) Ms. Emery moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Mr. Barritt seconded. Motion passed unanimously. CITY COUNCIL 18 JANUARY 2022 PAGE 3 6. Consider an extension or amendment to the City’s mask mandate: Ms. Baker noted the city is at the end of its 45 day window and is required to review it. The Council has the option to renew the current mandate, require masks in all buildings open to the public, or all businesses to put in their own practices. Ms. Riehle then moved that the City require the wearing of masks in all City-owned and other places of public access in the City of South Burlington. Ms. Emery seconded. Ms. Riehle said the omicron variant is very scary. She has seen an uptick in people not wearing masks which puts others at risk. Even those who are fully vaccinated can spread the disease. Ms. Riehle noted she has received a number of emails from the public asking for a mask mandate. Mr. Cota said he shares the concern and supports extension of the existing mandate. He did not support extending that mandate because it cannot be enforced, and he felt the Council shouldn’t pass anything they cannot enforce. Mr. Barritt agreed that a mandate cannot be enforced, but he felt it is a public health message about an extremely contagious variant of the COVID virus. He did not want any penalties for not wearing a mask, but he believed people would obey a sign requiring a mask to enter a building. He added that he was appalled to see the number of people in Costco not wearing a mask. Sen. Chittenden agreed with Mr. Barritt and noted the mask mandate would be for only 30 days. He did question the ability to enforce the mandate. Ms. Baker directed attention to the language of the mandate and noted that in none of the resolves is there an enforcement mandate. The emphasis is on education. Chief Burke stressed the need to avoid involving the Police where they have no authority. He was concerned with Police being called by citizens to address a situation where they have authority to act. Mr. Barritt asked what is happening in Burlington. Chief Burke said the Burlington Police are having to prioritize calls and service. Ms. Emery said this is just another way to say how important it is and how serious the omicron variant is. She urged people not to call the Police. CITY COUNCIL 18 JANUARY 2022 PAGE 4 Mr. Cota said that Green Mountain Transit has had a mask mandate, and it had been one of the most contentious things. A Police officer in Burlington was injured responding to one of the incidents. Sen. Chittenden said he felt the 3rd option would save some headaches. He did not want the Police involved. Mr. Hubbard questioned the role of the City Council/Governor/President/Congress regarding balancing the right people enjoy against times when people don’t exercise those rights responsibly. He felt the government should make decisions that benefit the greatest number of us. He felt the best way to keep things open is to have masking and vaccinations. He felt government isn’t doing its job if it doesn’t enforce the rules. Ms. Sirvis said she kind of agrees with option #3 and didn’t want Chief Burke’s life made any more difficult. She suggested possibly adding enforcement guidelines in the future. Ms. Emery said we now know the vaccine doesn’t protect people from the omicron variant, and we need to take this seriously. She felt option #2 does that. Ms. Bugbee agreed that option #2 supports public health. She thought option #3 could be an intermediate step. Mr. Barritt said if there is 5% more compliance, it will be a good thing for public health. In the vote that followed, the motion passed 4-1 with Mr. Cota voting against. 7. FY23 Budget discussion and approval of FY23 General Fund, Capital Improvement Plan and Enterprise Fund budgets with direction to send all to the Steering Committee: Mr. Bolduc said the CIP has been updated to move the Spear Street widening project up a few years. He then showed a chart indicating significant increases due to inflation. He said there is talk of a 3.5 increase in the COLA. He also noted that what is 100% funded by ARPA will be funded only at 80% next year. Mr. Bolduc then reviewed options as follows: CITY COUNCIL 18 JANUARY 2022 PAGE 5 #1. Bring the overall increase in the tax rate down from 7.55%. This would cut $800,000 from the budget as presented. The “pennies” would have a 1.08% increase. #2. Allows the 1.08 fixed increase to the budget and would cut $620,000 from the budget. #3. Would allow the 1.08 fixed increase and result in a 6.47% increase in the general fund. #4. Sample ballot language to reduce “pennies” to .0077, back to reappraisal rates. #5. Would use ARPA fund on the revenue side of the budget. Mr. Barritt asked what the negative impact of #5 would be. Mr. Bolduc said it would have to be built into next year’s budget, and the city is still trying to catch up from last year. Mr. Barritt felt option #4 was too difficult and would confuse voters. Mr. Barritt stressed that reappraisal resulted in substantial tax increases for many residents. If you voted for those “pennies” years ago, you had no idea it would be a 31% increase in 2023. He noted that the voters in Burlington voted down a bond issue because of tax increases from reappraisal. Mr. Cota said he would not support #4 or #5. Ms. Riehle then moved to approve option #3. Mr. Cota seconded. Mr. Bolduc noted that would result in a tax increase of $141.92 for the average home and $95.08 for the average condo. He also noted that there are already ARPA funds added into option #3. Mr. Barritt and Ms. Emery were not on board for option #3. Sen. Chittenden suggested going with option #3 but removing some of the things the Council had added last week. He was OK with filming the Planning Commission and with the Climate Action money. He suggested possibly using money from the Capital Reserve Fund for the Fire Department allocation ($100,000). Ms. Baker noted there are ongoing discussions with the Fire Department regarding their needs. Ms. Emery asked how many Firefighters would they department have. Mr. Bolduc said there are 29 at this time and a 30th who became Assistant Building Inspector. Ms. Emery CITY COUNCIL 18 JANUARY 2022 PAGE 6 said she didn’t see the $100,000 as responding to what the head of the Firefighters Association was addressing. She felt it would be better if there was a specific use for that money. Ms. Riehle said Ms. Baker has indicated the money could be used “thoughtfully,” not just for hiring someone. Sen. Chittenden said he supports the Fire Department/EMS and felt they could look at cutting the funds for the Recreation Center first. Mr. Cota asked what is the number they are trying to reduce. Mr. Bolduc said a 1% reduction would equate to a $176,000 reduction. Ms. Emery said the Recreation Center funding is from impact fees. Ms. Baker said that is the long term plan for the Rec Center. The $75,000 in the FY23 CIP is from the general fund to go to initial assessment phases. It would be recouped in the future. Ms. Riehle asked what the tax increase would be at 6.55%. Mr. Bolduc said the average home would be at $123 increase and $82 for an average condo. Mr. Cota suggested taking $60,000 from the reserve fund, $75,000 from the Rec Center, $25,000 from Climate Action and $16,000 from filming the Planning Commission. Mr. Bolduc noted that would be almost exactly $176,000. He calculated that would result in an increase for the average home of $118,000. Members were OK with that number. Members tabled the discussion until the end of the meeting in order to allow staff time to get the exact wording. Mr. Mittag asked what an average home is worth. Mr. Bolduc said $432,720. An average condo is $289,865. Mr. Britt felt the budget presentation was “too skimpy.” He also said people should be shown the impact of “pennies” on taxes. Mr. Bolduc said there are a few ways to highlight that in the budget as clearly as possible. 8. Consider a request to place an adult cannabis retail sales ballot item on the 2022 Town Meeting Day ballot: Ms. Baker reviewed the history of Mr. Lynn’s request for this, and it is now an agenda item. CITY COUNCIL 18 JANUARY 2022 PAGE 7 The Economic Development Committee discussed this, but because it was not an agenda item, they could not hold a formal vote. In a straw poll, they felt the only way to see what the community wants is to put it on the ballot. Staff did prepare ballot language for the Council to consider. Ms. Riehle said she had hoped the Economic Development Committee could explain the economic implications of this. She didn’t think it was just a values issue as it could be an economic boon to the community or possibly not. She would want to know that before making a decision. Mr. Cota felt it would be important to have the vote but not on the March ballot. Sen. Chittenden tended to agree with Mr. Cota. He saw the potential revenue benefit but also traffic issues (he noted the “controlled chaos” in Massachusetts). He agreed with putting off the vote. Ms. Emery agreed and felt they should also hear from health professionals. Ms. Baker noted that UVM is willing to help with that in the future. Ms. Bugbee said there should be an opportunity for the community to weigh in on this. She recommended a public hearing. Ms. Kinville suggested putting it on the November ballot as that is usually the highest turnout of voters. 9. Approve the Town Meeting Day Warning and Ballot: This item was deferred until later in the meeting. 10. (10A) Receive a Request from Summit Properties to apply for CDBG Funds and potentially set a public hearing for 7 p.m. on 22 February 2022: Ms. Baker advised that Summit Properties is a partner for affordable housing. They have asked the City to partner with them, similar to what the city has done in the past. Mr. Getz of Summit Properties said they have applied for multiple funding to build 94 units of mixed housing, 71 of which will be permanently affordable and 23 at market rate. The affordable nits would include housing for some people who are now homeless. The number of affordable units exceeds the 51 required units and provides much deeper affordability. CITY COUNCIL 18 JANUARY 2022 PAGE 8 The project will be located on lots 10 and 11 of the O’Brien Farms Hillside development. There have been 2 hearings with the DRB, and that board was happy with the revised building design. They are hoping for DRB approval at the 2 February meeting. The project consists of studio and one and two-bedroom units with underground parking. The hope is to have funding in place by June and to start construction in September. Mr. Getz said they built a similar project in Winooski, and costs have already increased 20%. The estimated cost for this project is $6,000,000. The project has support of the Affordable Housing Committee. Ms. Riehle said she was impressed with the different levels of affordability and the mix of units. She asked how many underground parking spaces there will be. Mr. Getz estimated 47 spaces for each building, combined above and below ground. Ms. Emery asked about rents. Mr. Getz said they will be set at the limit for people in specific groups. There will also be “project based vouchers” for people at 30% of the area median income. The project will have all electrical appliances and heating. Mr. Cota moved to hold a public hearing on the application for CDBG fund on 7 February 2022, at 7 p.m. Sen. Chittenden seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Ms. Riehle asked about a nearby dog park. Mr. Getz said there is one in a future phase of the overall development. Mr. Conner noted that part of the design is for a connection from these units to where there is Green Mountain Transit. There will also be a new signal to all for pedestrian crossing. 10B. Request to consider updates to the Land Development Regulations draft: Ms. Baker recommended the Council meet with the City Attorney in executive session before proceeding with this item. Mr. Barritt moved that the City Council make a specific finding that premature knowledge of attorney client confidential information would clearly put the city at a substantial disadvantage. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Barritt then moved that the Council meet in executive session to receive confidential attorney-client information and to invite into the session Ms. Baker, Mr. Bolduc, Mr. McNeil, and Mr. Conner. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. CITY COUNCIL 18 JANUARY 2022 PAGE 9 The Council entered Executive Session at 9:15 p.m. and resumed open session at 9:47 p.m. Ms. Riehle then moved to amend the draft Land Development Regulations, Section 3.04h and the Habitat Block and Habitat district map to include the following language: These regulations apply to all proposed land development except as limited by the provisions of 14VSA, Section 4413. For example, Habitat Block and Habitat Connector designations are subject to the limitations in 24 VSA, Section 4413(a) for uses enumerated therein and proposed by entities such as the State of Vermont, the City of South Burlington, the Chittenden Water District, or the University of Vermont. This subsection is intended to provide note of existing limitations on these regulations and is not intended to impose any limitations beyond those already imposed by 24 VSA, Section 4413. This language is repeated on the Habitat and Habitat connector Overlay District Map. Mr. Cota seconded the motion which then passed 4-1 with Mr. Barritt voting against. 11.Receive December 2021 Financials including prior month: Ms. Machar noted a significant cost increase for IT at 180 Market Street. She noted that 60% of projected revenues have been received, and expenditures are at 37%. This is consistent with previous years. Mr. Barritt asked if there is anything new regarding local option taxes. Ms. Baker said the next receipt of funds will be in March. The last receipts were higher than anticipated. 12.Consider a draft of a City Charter Committee charge: Ms. Baker said there would be no action taken at this meeting. The intent is to have the City Charter Committee look at government structures and language updates. The Committee would be expanded by two members from the School Board. The Committee would be charged to come back with recommendations in July 2023. 13.Consider the FY22 Policy Priorities and Strategies: Ms. Baker said there is no action required and nothing to highlight tonight. The Council will receive reports every two months with an update in the spring. Ms. Riehle said the sooner the City gets a new Public Works Director the better. CITY COUNCIL 18 JANUARY 2022 PAGE 10 Ms. Emery noted the item about rezoning of land around the Airport and cited the need to engage with a more diverse population in that very diverse neighborhood. 14.Consider, amend and approve the annual City Manager evaluation process: Ms. Baker noted she had provided a recommended process for evaluations, one for the City Council, one for the Leadership Team, and one for a self-evaluation. The Council should approve a process and provide feedback by 1 February. This will be discussed in Executive Session on 22 February, then presented to the public. Ms. Riehle noted that some items such as “staffing supervision” are hard for the Council to assess. The same issue arose with Kevin Dorn. She suggested a N/A response or a change to the denominator. Ms. Baker and other members agreed. Ms. Riehle said she was willing to collate the responses. Ms. Baker said she is “all for feedback,” and 7 months feedback is fine. Her contract has a 1 July date, and in the year of a contract renewal, she would want the evaluation done before that date. Ms. Riehle felt it was wise to do the evaluation while the longest serving City Council members are in place. 15.Councilors’ Reports from Committee Assignments: Mr. Cota: A change in Green Mountain Transit service will affect all service areas. There are not enough drivers to cover all routes, so GMT has to cut services. Those being cut include the Montpelier link, Shelburne Road service, and St. Albans service. GMT is also trying to determine how to fund service for the next 50 years. There will be a professional study done to determine town assessments and whether there should be fares. Mr. Cota noted there is less money from gas taxes, which is the funding source for public transit. There are funds available for low and zero emission buses. The Council then returned to Agenda item #7 (budget discussion): Mr. Bolduc said the revised amount to be raised from taxes is $17,962,812.57. The revised estimated tax rate of .4623, would result in a 6.27% tax Increase and an increase for the year for the average home of $118.13 and for the average condo of $79.13. CITY COUNCIL 18 JANUARY 2022 PAGE 11 Ms. Riehle then moved to approve the FY23 city budget as amended. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Bolduc said the C.I.P. now includes the moving of the Spear Street project to FY25-27. Sen. Chittenden moved to approve the amended Capital Improvement Plan as indicated. Mr. Barritt seconded. Motion passed unanimously. The Council then returned to budget item #10, consideration of the Warning for the March ballot: Mr. Bolduc said the Warning is now for 2 items. The total budget to be approved is $52,525,676.75, and the amount to be raised from taxes is $17,962,812.57. Ms. Emery moved to approve the Warning for the March 1st 2022 ballot as revised. Mr. Barritt seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 16.Other Business: It was noted that there will be a meeting of the committee considering rezoning of land around the Airport on Thursday, 27 January, 7 p.m. Ms. Baker asked members to stop in to sign the Resolution by the end of the week. As there was no further business to come before the Council Ms. Emery moved to adjourn. Mr. Barritt seconded. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 10:35 p.m.